Idaho Immigration Law

Idaho Guide

Idaho Immigration Law

Immigration and Population in Idaho:

The population of Idaho increased by 29% in the period between 1990 and 2000. The rate of growth throughout this decade puts its population to approximately 1.3 million people. The state of Idaho is emerging as the fifth fastest growing state of the United States of America.

All through the 1990s, Idaho’s immigrant population doubled, rising by a large extent. During this decade Idaho’s immigrant population increased by approximately 35,000 people, which brought the overall figure of immigrant residents in the state to 64,000.

The rise in the immigrant population during the 1990s was accounted for 12 percent of the state’s increase in population. About 166,000 citizens in Idaho are immigrants or the offspring of immigrants; this accounts for 13 percent of the population.

Due to the government’s procedure of mass immigration, approximately 47 percent of immigrants have come to the state since 1990. The Census Bureau of United States of America has estimated that Idaho’s population will grow up by 29 percent amidst the period between 2000 and 2025.

Idaho’s Immigration Laws

The immigration laws in Idaho bear resemblance to rest of the states of America. A claimant, who intends to reside in this state or country, is generally admitted either through employment or through family links. The only exception to this rule is for political refuges.

An alien can be given the consent to immigrate to the United States of America on the basis of employment or work. There are about five type of employment rules under which foreigners can be allowed to immigrate.

An alien can acquire a visa by virtue of being an immediate family member of a United States citizen. There are four family-based immigrant visa types, namely: unmarried children of citizens of United States, spouses of lawfully permanent citizens, married children of citizens and siblings of adult citizens of United States of America.

‘Diversity’ immigrants are migrants from countries that are believed to be under-represented in the group of applicants for visas all through the years. In the year 1995, a new program was put into practice by the Immigration and Naturalization Services’ which provided an assured number of visas to aspirants from low-admission countries.

Refugees are another set of people, who are given special treatment if they are from outside the United States of America and are fleeing or have fled from their country. If they have a substantial reason to believe that with their arrival to the home country, they will be victimized because of race, religion, nationality, association to a particular group, or political view, they can seek protection.

Idaho’s Illegal Immigration laws

Imprisonment of illegal immigrants is a challenge that faces the state government of Idaho. This is despite the fact that the state has been receiving partial compensation under the program launched by the federal government, State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP). This program was founded in 1994 for the sole purpose of compensating the local government for keeping "undocumented," aliens under imprisonment for committing a criminal act.

With the sum of SCAAP awards declining in both total distributions and even more as a share of the state’s expenses, the authorities have a tough task ahead. The data provided by SCAAP points to Idaho's illegal population which has increased by 68 percent from the 188 prisoner per year in 1999 to 316 prisoner per year in 2002; at the same time as reimbursement was nearly unchanged and consequently slumped sharply.

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, which states that hospitals with emergency rooms are obligatory to treat patients with emergency medical requirements not considering their immigration status and capacity to pay, is another obstacle for the state government as it hinders the ability of the state to prosecute illegal immigrants.

The Congress ratified an appropriation of $250 million per year in the year 2003, for four years, so as to help make up for some of the expenses that built up due to the utilization of the services by illegal immigrants.

This sum has been billed among the states based upon approximate number of the illegal immigrant population. For Idaho, the projected sum in fiscal year 2004 was $453,092, as according to a survey, about 19,000 illegal immigrants resided in Idaho with considerable increase in its population.